VOA新闻杂志2024--US Army Announces New Structure, Reduced Positions

US Army Announces New Structure, Reduced Positions

The U.S. Army recently announced new structuring plans for its forces. The plans involve cutting many unfilled jobs after hiring efforts failed to bring in enough soldiers to fill all job openings.

The Army is cutting about 24,000, or almost 5 percent, of jobs, and restructuring to be better prepared for the future.

The cuts will mainly be in already-unoccupied jobs — not soldiers. These include jobs related to counterinsurgency. Those jobs grew in number during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. About 3,000 of the cuts would come from Army special operations forces.

However, the new plan will add about 7,500 troops in other missions. These include air-defense and counter-drone units and five new task forces around the world with increased cyber-, intelligence and long-distance strike capabilities¹.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she and General Randy George, the Army chief, reduced the number of openings.

"We're moving away from counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. We want to be postured³ for large-scale combat operations," Wormuth told reporters recently. "So, we looked at where were there pieces of force structure that were probably more associated with counterinsurgency, for example, that we don't need anymore."

George added that Army leaders did a lot of careful study to choose the places to cut.

"The things that we want to not have in our formation are actually things that we don't think are going to make us successful on the battlefield going forward," he said.

An Army document said the cuts are "spaces" not "faces," and the Army will not be asking soldiers to leave the force.

Instead, the decision reflects the reality that for years the Army has not been able to fill thousands of empty jobs. While the Army can have up to 494,000 soldiers, the total number of active-duty soldiers right now is about 445,000. Under the new plan, the goal is to bring in enough troops over the next five years to reach a level of 470,000.

The measures come after more than 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan forced the Army to change. The changes included counterinsurgency forces to fight al-Qaida, the Taliban, and the Islamic State group.

The military's attention has moved to "great power competition" from countries such as China and Russia, and threats from Iran and North Korea. The war in Ukraine has shown the need for greater attention to air-defense systems and the latest ways to use and to counter drones in the air and in the sea.

Army leaders said they looked carefully at all the service's job specialties⁴ in search of places to cut. They examined the ongoing⁵ effort to modernize⁶ the Army with new high-technology weapons and to make decisions about additional forces.

The changes are partly a result of the recruiting problems all military services are facing.

In the last U.S. government budget year, which ended September 30, the Navy, Army, and Air Force all failed to meet their recruitment goals. The Marine⁷ Corps⁸ and the very small Space Force did meet their goals. The Army recruited a little over 50,000 soldiers, falling short of the publicly stated goal of 65,000.

Words in This Story

counterinsurgency – n. action by an army, etc., against people who are fighting to take control of a government

cyber –prefix related to computers, computer networks and securing the information on them

posture² – v. to position

formation – n. an arrangement of people, ships, or airplanes

drone –n. a vehicle that is operated remotely which has no pilot or driver

recruit – v. to find suitable people and get them to join the armed forces

1 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

3 postured   

做出某种姿势( posture的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She postured before the camera. 她在相机前摆出做作的姿势。
• The painter postured his model. 画家使模特儿摆姿势。

4 specialties   

n.专门，特性，特别；专业( specialty的名词复数 )；特性；特制品；盖印的契约

参考例句：

• Great Books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. 名著绝不引经据典，艰深难懂，而是通俗易读。它们不是专家为专业人员撰写的专业书籍。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学
• Brain drains may represent a substantial reduction in some labor force skills and specialties. 智力外流可能表示某种劳动力技能和特长大量减少。 来自辞典例句

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

7 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

8 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。